How To Backup Text Messages From Android To Gmail

Text messages are usually the one thing that we forget to transfer to our new phone or store when we perform a factory reset to our current device. And that’s a pity, since the process of backing up your text messages is ridiculously simple. In this tutorial we will show you how to backup your text messages from your Android device to a Gmail account.

First step: Enable IMAP access on your Gmail account

For the backing up process to be possible, you’ll have to enable the IMAP option on your Gmail account.

Log in to your Gmail account. If you have more than one, select whichever you deem more suitable for this task

Click on the Gear icon located on the top right-hand side

Select Settings

Select the ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ tab

Check the boxes shown in the second image

Second step: Download and use the SMS Backup+ app to save your texts

LaunchPlay Store on your Android device and search for ‘SMS Backup+’

Hit install

Download:

For the ones wondering, the IMAP configurations were necessary in order for the app to perform the backing up process.

Moving on:

Hit the connect button

Select the same Gmail account as before

Tap on Allow

Tap Backup

The backing up process will then commence. The process takes a few minutes to complete, depending on how many texts you are backing up. Mission accomplished!

To view the backed up messages, just log in to your Gmail account and open the SMS tab, which is located on the left column along with Inbox, Sent Mail, Drafts etc.

Extra tip: Enable auto back-ups

If you text a lot, then we’d recommend enabling the auto back-up option, thus avoiding the hassle of every now and then having to manually perform this task.